The Joffrey

Ballet School is in New York City on Avenue of the Americas, a little

over a mile from the former World Trade Center towers.

The Joffrey

Ensemble Dancers, the official company of the school, which had a four-city

tour of Georgia planned for this month, was in class at the time of the

attacks.

"Several

of us knew people who were killed and injured, said artistic director

Elie Lazar. "We decided that the best way to honor them and to support

President Bush and the country would be to pick up and carry on."

One of the

stops of the group's tour is a weekend in Fayetteville hosted by the Georgia

Youth Ballet. The Joffrey Ensemble will conduct a public performance as

well as master and pas de deux classes. The performance will take place

at Our Lady of Mercy High School in Fayetteville Saturday, Oct. 13 at

8 p.m.

The repertoire

is varied in style from the passion of the new flamenco music in Lazar's

ballet, "Surrender 2 Love," to Mozart's elegant Symphony Number

33 for the contemporary ballet "Layers," to the beautiful and

classical "Tete-a-Tete" with music by Andres Messenger. These

ballets will be accompanied by two show-stopper pas de deux from the ballets

"Le Corsaire" and "Flames of Paris."

The classes

will be conducted for the junior and senior company members of the Georgia

Youth Ballet. Lazar began his relationship with the company in 1998 when,

at the request of Magdalena Maury, the artistic director for the Georgia

Youth Ballet, he was commissioned to choreograph a ballet. The result

was "Suite Fragments" and it was performed by the Georgia Youth

Ballet in 1999. Lazar has taught two summer workshops at The Studio in

Fayetteville since then, most recently in June.

The local dancers

will get instruction from world class dancers. The ensemble is comprised

of 12 handpicked international artists from Russia, Spain, Italy, Mexico,

Brazil, Colombia, China, Japan, Korea and the United States.

Tickets are

$15 for adults and $10 for students and seniors. For information phone

the Georgia Youth Ballet at 770-716-9858.

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